


No Control

by bagelistrying



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Alternative Perspective, Catra (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Catra (She-Ra) Redemption, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/F, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Horde Prime's Ship (She-Ra), Lesbian Adora (She-Ra), Lesbian Catra (She-Ra), Mind Control, POV Catra (She-Ra), Recovered Memories, Spoilers for She-Ra S5, minor fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:14:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26490211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bagelistrying/pseuds/bagelistrying
Summary: Everything that had trapped Catra on Etheria was gone. The emotions that had held her back were so disgustingly human, but yet the peace Horde Prime promised was so far from what she wanted; Adora.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Kudos: 42





	No Control

**Author's Note:**

> Oh lord this work is a lot longer than usual I think I’m obsessed with this show

Catra lifted her head. Somebody was ahead of her, standing in the center of the throne room. She smiled to herself. How amusing it was that she even had to move, to think, to know everything. What use were the same old movements when all the universe’s secrets, everything the world could have tried to hide, lay bare in her mind. It was all thanks to Lord Prime. She no longer required-  _ another command.  _

_   
_ Obeying the glowing words branded in her mind, she lifted her white hood. Like everything else in the room, it was pristine. Just the way the universe should be. She set her gaze forward, sinking into the girl before her.

“Hello, Adora.” She watched as Adora’s eyes widened, her hand instinctively lifting slightly to reach out to her before falling back to her side. How human.

Adora lunged forward, her voice shaking as she sprinted into the grasp of the two clones accompanying Catra. “What did you do to her?” She looked beyond hurt, her glittering blue eyes fixed upon- someone pinched the back of her neck, and the freeing, blissful, omnipotence flooded her thoughts again. 

Alas, she was a rebel and a fool that the world could do without. She walked up to Lord Prime, who waited on his throne, where a god such as he belonged. Sinking to her knees, she bowed before him, her ears just touching her folded arms.

“I have made her anew.” His voice rang only in her head, but she was sure Adora could hear it too. “I saw her mind, so ensnared in rage, grief, and pain…” he held out a hand. Catra took it, her fingers curling around his as she was helped to her feet. “...and I brought her to the light. Isn’t that right, little sister?” Lord Prime set his other hand on her shoulder, staring down at her as Adora struggled with the grips of the guards.

The rebel spoke up. “Catra, you have to fight it!”

“My place is with Lord Prime, Adora.” It was true. Etheria had left her behind, tangled in thoughts, decisions, and awful, trapping emotions. “I don’t want to leave.”

“Tell her what I have done for you.” Prime said.

She stepped down from the throne, striding confidently towards Adora. “Lord Prime has given me peace. Something you could never do.” She held out a hand, her cold palm against the side of Adora’s face. “But he has made it whole again. Don’t you see? This is for the best. I’m happy here.” She tilted her head, her thumb sliding down Adora’s jaw and onto the rebel’s shoulder. “You could be happy too.” A tear built in her eyes. Shouldering the arm of the guard holding her, she tried to hide it, but there was no reason to. Catra could see everything now.

“Let her go!” Came the sudden retort, Prime’s hand landing suddenly on Catra’s shoulder again.

“Shall we make a deal, Adora?” Prime asked. “I will give her to you, if you want her.” What was this deal? There was such a clear better option. Adora could join them, be pure and all-seeing with her. “But first, you must do something for me.” Prime raised an eyebrow. “You will give me She-Ra.” 

Catra understood now. With She-Ra, Lord Prime would be able to wipe the entire universe clean. Then, it would not matter what side anybody was on. There would be no sides, no conflict, no feelings, only peace, like the endless pit below the platform that supported the throne. 

But still… it was a perfect plan, yet some part of Catra didn’t want it. An irrational part of her mind writhed with fear and dread, begging her to reach out to Adora, to be taken back. The part that swelled with pride as Adora replied, 

“Never.” 

Catra shut down the thought.

“Very well.” Lord Prime replied. He raised a hand and snapped his fingers, a high pitched hum ringing through the chamber. She heard doors opening elsewhere in the ship, clones being deployed. An earpiece fell to Adora’s feet. “You miscalculated. I see all. I know all. You thought yourself worthy to challenge me, but you are nothing but a false hero. You have led your friends to destruction.” The grip on Catra’s shoulder tightened. Gasping for air, she stiffened and squeezed her eyes shut. 

Suddenly, the perfect silence in her mind was interrupted. All her thoughts were screaming in her ear, and it only worsened when she opened her eyes. Adora was there, and she was in danger. She had to move, help her. Why was she here? Was Horde Prime next to her? There was a pit below the throne- who had that? 

The pain in her neck had penetrated down her spine, boiling under her skin, fighting everything inside her. It hurt so much, but her hand did little more than tremble. The panic was so sharp, but somehow it was nostalgic, the emotion swimming through her veins. She was feeling things again, and…

It was gone. All the pain vanished and her mind was empty again. She could barely remember why there were tears in her eyes, all she could think of now was that they were irrelevant. She blinked them away. Lord Prime’s voice was in her head again. 

“Go on, fulfill your purpose,” he told Adora. “Bring out She-Ra and strike me down.” Adora silently refused. Her face had fallen, her eyes red and limbs shaking. “Ah, but you two must have a lot of catching up to do.” Prime’s hand shifted from Catra’s shoulder to the top of her head. “I will leave you to it.” He stepped to the side and walked out of the chamber, passing Adora with a smug glance down at her. “Let me know when you are ready to make a deal.”

As he and the other guards left the chamber, Catra opened her palm, her claws ready. Without a moment of hesitation, she curled her hand back into a fist and swung it forward at Adora. The rebel dodged, and as she lifted her leg to kick her, she felt a hand grab her ankle. It did not matter.

She brought her leg back down and Adora with it, throwing her across the throne room floor. As she walked over to finish the job, Adora’s boot slammed into her chest, sending her stumbling back. With her next punch, Adora grabbed her wrist, holding her in a headlock over her knee as she spoke.

“Catra, listen to me. I know you’re still in there. I’m not leaving without you. It’s gonna be okay.” Catra was looking at the floor again. Adora was holding her still, begging her to come back. Come back where? Why…? _No_. She twisted her arm again, grabbing Adora’s leg again slicing into her uniform with her claws. She gritted her teeth as a thin line of blood appeared in the ripped fabric. She slid behind Adora, a hand around her neck.

“Everything is already okay. We are with Lord Prime now. There is no need for you to suffer, Adora.” She felt Adora lean away from her, her breathing unsteady and harsh. “Come into the light with me.” 

Another hand around Catra’s shoulder. An arm grabbed her, flipped her over, and she flew back toward the throne, the edge of a step clinking against something on the back of her neck.

“Snap out of it, Catra. I don’t want to hurt you.” 

Catra leaned forward again, watching Adora creep closer, her blonde hair messing and strands having fallen out of her tight ponytail. “But you have already hurt me. Prime has set me free of that pain.” She got to her feet. “The pain that you caused. He will set us all free, forever.” As she stepped up to the throne, she could feel the pain in her rib from Adora’s kick, before it was numbed again. “A world of peace without end.” 

Cherishing the rebel’s shocked expression, she leapt off the platform, fist at ready as she swung her arm through the air. Grazing only the collar of Adora’s coat, she tried again, ducking beneath more punches and dancing across the platform. As she stepped back from another swing, her left foot found only half a tile beneath it. She was at the edge, just above the pit. 

Adora held out her hand, screaming, “Catra!”

Catra glanced down at the darkness beneath her, then up at Adora once more. A chuckle left her lips as she took another step back, leaning over the pit, letting herself sink back through the air. Letting herself fall. 

A hand gripped her cloak, another reaching for her arm and pulling her back over the platform and into a soft embrace. Happiness leapt up inside Catra. Why was it there? Why did she want this so much? She let her arm reach around Adora’s shoulder, before digging her claws into her back.

“Oh, Adora. How long will you drag this out?” Gasping in pain, Adora shoved herself away. “You will destroy the ones you love in the process.” Thrusting a knee into Adora’s stomach, she grabbed her by the collar and dragged her over the abyss. 

There was no fear or sadness left. She wasn’t even Catra anymore, and she knew that as she spoke. “Catra was afraid in the end. And she suffered.” Her hand was lifted up to her face, analyzed by Lord Prime. “Perhaps she could be a new vessel for me, though she would not last long.” Her head was turned back. 

“What do you think? Adora?” Boots scuffed against the tile platform, propelling Adora away from the pit, and with Catra’s shoulders in her grasp, she pinned her to the high armrests of the throne. There was a sting of panic, Catra heard something on her neck shatter. 

A spark landed on the folded hood of her cloak, but she couldn’t focus on it at all. Her thoughts were back, but every time more than a word formed, it was wiped away again. She was laughing. _Why_? The same question, repeatedly cut off, kept echoing. There was a terrifying moment where she didn’t know who was in front of her. 

Her movements were not her own as she sank down to the floor, her eyes slipping in and out of focus. Adora’s blurry face shone in front of her as she tried to hold herself together. Adora was there, it was okay. She fell forward, gasping for air as Adora’s arm held her up.

“I am not giving up on you, Catra!” She yelled as the pieced together thoughts continued to flicker. 

She couldn’t think, couldn’t disobey as someone forced her to reply, “Then you’re a fool.”  _ Adora’s not a fool. _ “You cannot stop Horde Prime. He will reign over all the universe.”  _ What am I saying? Who is this? Help me Adora, please!  _ “It is destiny.” As her words vanished again, more sparks singed her cloak, electricity racking her limbs and she could do nothing but scream at Adora, pain silencing the deafening battle in her mind. The last thing she heard was Adora gasp at something, then everything was dark. 

Adora was above her, and she felt herself talking, only half understanding the words. “You should have stayed away. I don’t matter, you…” It hurt to keep speaking. Adora raised a hand to Catra’s cheek.

“You matter to me.” Catra smiled. She didn’t know what kind of state she was in, but Adora saying that so genuinely was… beyond her understanding. 

_ Oh no.  _ The emptiness was back. She was walking to the pit, Adora’s heavy breathing the only sounds in the chamber. 

“Come on, Catra!” The rebel begged as she approached the darkness. “You’ve never listened to anyone in your life. Are you really going to start now?”

“You’re such-” Catra suddenly regained control, finishing her sentence with a soft giggle. “-an idiot.”

Adora had tears in her eyes, biting back a sob. “Yeah,” She nodded. “I know.” Catra laughed again, wrapping her arms around herself. “I’m going to get you home.”

Catra looked back up. The cacophony in her head was still raging, fighting for the right thing to say, trying to stop the tears in her eyes. “Promise?”

The last thing Catra heard was Adora’s soft reply. “I promise.” She lost her balance, and the pit was spinning towards her, faster than she thought possible. Then the darkness came back. 

It was euphoric to be so empty. Not the terrifying, artificial empty that Horde Prime had forced her into, but to be alone with her thoughts. Adora had come to get her, and no matter how torn and broken her body was, it was in Adora’s arms and that was all that mattered.  _ Everything’s okay.  _

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I always wanted to see Catra’s perspective on getting chipped by Prime, and had fun changing the way she thought based on how much she was deviating. Writing out the phenomenal fight choreography was more time consuming than I expected, but I’ve been wanting to write something bit longer than my usual 500 word rambles for a while. Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
